19 May 2013

Orb final, including quilting notes

I finished the binding on the Orb quilt the other day using the same hibiscus purple that appears in strips on the quilt top, only without the orange bits. The final dimensions are 51" x 51".

And I had some helpers for taking photos yesterday.

I'm still quite happy with the quilting on this one.

I emptied several spools of orange and yellow thread.

Several people have asked how I went about the quilting. The short answer is I marked each straight line using various colors of Frixion pens and quilted with a walking foot. Lots and lots of lines.

1. I started by marking (but not sewing) the locations of the circles. I used two small bowls as circle templates.

2. Then I marked a first set of tangent lines -- about three tangent lines for each circle, with each line touching two circles. I quilted the lines with a medium orange thread.
3. I repeated Step 2 several times using progressively lighter oranges, then yellows.
4. When I got to my lightest thread color, I focused on the circles one by one, marking and then quilting lines so there were no large gaps/angles between the tangent lines. Each 2-1/2" circle has about 25 tangent lines, and each 3-1/2" circle has about 30 lines.

The final step was to add a few lines at the edges and corners where the quilting lines were farther apart than in the center of the quilt.

I was nervous about using the Frixion pens, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. My favorite color was bright pink. It was visible on the light and dark colors, but not super ugly like the dark blue and black. After quilting I washed and blocked the quilt. Most of the pen marks washed away, and the few that remained disappeared completely when ironed. And there aren't any white ghost marks on the dark fabrics, as some have experienced. Perhaps ironing before an initial wash can set the ink medium, even as the pigment disappears? I have no idea, but I'm very happy with how this particular process worked.

27 comments:

what a gorgeous quilt. The time intensive marking of all those quilting lines was definitely worth the effort - spectacular results. Thanks for the tip about washing before ironing the Frixion - I have had some shadowing in the past, but this might be the answer!

I would love to see this one in person. Marking each line is really dedicated, I am not sure I would have the patience but thinks for the tip on the pens - as I have been thinking of doing some marking as I quilt and was not sure how the frixon pens would work. I do love the quilt.

Dan, I am completely in love with the quilting on this one. Those negative-space circles are brilliant! Thanks for sharing your technique; look forward to trying it someday -- perhaps on a small pillow, not sure I have the straight-line stamina for anything larger. :-)

I love this quilt and the quilting just lifts it so far!I was also interested to hear about the Frixion pen experience - I must do some testing as i haven't washed anything that i have ironed the ink out of yet...

This quilt design is beautiful. I particularly like the borders. And the quilting amazing. It must have taken forever. I never used the Frixion pens, but I would have been so worried to mess up the quilt top. Good for your that it turned out ok. Congratulations! And BTW I really like you quilt picture with the buildings in the background.

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